The Way of Love
by LoveandLearn
Summary: An AU Addek story based loosely on Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the 1941 version, not the 2005 Brangelina version). While trying to dissolve their marriage, Derek and Addison find out they were never legally married to begin with. In an attempt to move on with her life, Addison leaves Derek and Seattle to build a new life with their son in Los Angeles.
1. Chapter 1

Derek and Addison Shepherd sat across one another in their new lawyer's office They had mutually hired a lawyer to handle their divorce in Seattle. It would be easier than trying to get through it with their former lawyer, who was based in New York. Their son was waiting outside of the conference room where a receptionist was tasked with keeping an eye on the eight year old. He was normally very talkative and curious but the unfamiliar surroundings left him completely silent and concerned.

" _We'll be right on the other side of the glass, okay? You can see us the whole time."_ His mother assured him before leaving. He could see them. But it wasn't helping comfort him.

A middle aged man in a tailored suit walked into the conference room with a file in his hand and sat at the head of the conference table, strategically so as not to be on a side with either of them.

"Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd," he started. "I called you here today before we have some new information we need to go over that has a crucial impact on this case."

The book gave him a curious look. "Like what?" Derek was the first to ask.

"You eloped, is that correct?"

"Yes." Addison answered while Derek spoke over her. "What does that matter?" he asked.

"You didn't have a ceremony later on?"

"Yes, but not real one. Just for appearances, so to speak."

"Why does this matter?" Derek asked again.

"Because it does, Dr. Shepherd, if you can answer my question so I can put the puzzle pieces together and explain it to you."

"We were planning a wedding. By we I mean my mother. A very big, extravagant wedding. And we were getting ready for our intern exams and we were getting annoyed with the whole process so we flew out to Vegas a month before the wedding and eloped. We came back with the intention of cancelling the wedding but our parents were not very supportive of that idea.. My mother would have killed us both if we canceled the whole thing...and then his mother would have buried us."

"Do you remember the chapel you went to?"

Derek shook his head.

Addison on the other hand, recalled some details. "I don't remember the name. I know that all the good ones were booked for the weekend. We ended up leaving the strip to this tiny, sad little chapel because it was the only one that could do the service that night."

"Oh yeah," Derek smiled at the memory. "It smelled like urine and alcohol."

"And that's where you got your marriage license?" The lawyer asked to confirm.

"Yes," Addison replied.

"Well, the chapel you went was not licensed to perform weddings and it was not ordained in any way to sign off on city authorized marriage licenses. They were caught seven years ago and their trial just reached its verdict three years ago. Someone was supposed to call you to let you know."

Derek and Addison stared blankly at him.

"What are you saying?" Derek finally asked.

"You're not legally married."

"I don't understand." Addison replied. "So we've been living a lie?"

"No, not necessarily. You have what's called a common law marriage. But a common law marriage can be ended at any time with no need for a legal divorce."

"No, you don't understand. We've been living as a legally marriage couple for almost 12 years. We've been filing our taxes as 'married, filing joint!' If we're not married, that's tax fraud!" Addison explained on the verge of a panic attack. "Oh my god, I'm a white collar criminal."

"The IRS is not going to come after you for tax fraud," the lawyer assured. "This is an extenuating circumstance."

"We're not legally married?" Derek asked again in disbelief.

"No." the man replied patiently, knowing this must be difficult for them. "So there is no need for an official divorce. You can just separate your joint assets and go about your lives. The only thing that gets a little complicated is custody."

"I left my house, my practice, my friends. Christopher left his school, his cousins, his friends, his house, his tennis team. We left everything to come to this raining swampland, to live in a tin can in the middle of nowhere and work on our marriage! Now you're telling me I have no marriage?!" Addison exclaimed in hysterics. She stopped to take a breath but when her eye's met Derek's stunned one, she got up and stormed out of the room.

Derek sat there quietly for a minute before turning to the lawyer. "What now?" he asked.

* * *

After the meeting at the lawyer's office, Derek headed back to work where he expected to find Addison. He ventured up to the NICU, fully expecting her to see her standing beside She always went straight to the NICU when she needed to comfort herself. At first, he didn't understand it. Sick babies were hardly comforting. But over the years he had learned that sick babies often didn't have anyone rooting for them and fighting for them, especially in lower socioeconomic families. Sick babies were a burden and left abandoned soon after birth. He learned that medical intervention did work miracles, but sometimes they needed to be held and loved.

"Hey," he said when he saw her sitting in a rocking chair in the corner with a baby in her arms.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coldly.

"I came to see you, make sure you're okay."

"Why? You're not my husband, you don't have to do that." she reminded him.

"I'm really sorry, Addison." He said softly. "I wish there is something I could say to make it better."

"It doesn't matter anymore, okay? We can just go our separate ways. It's easier this way."

"It is, but that doesn't make it any less painful. And we still have Christopher to think about," he pointed out. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Well, you can yell at me."

"I don't want to yell at you."

"Are you sure? I know you love yelling when you're upset."

"I'm not upset with you. It's not your fault." She assured him. "And hey, now we're not adulterers," she tried to joke.

"Just cheaters," he smirked with a small laugh. "And we don't have to carry a divorce under our belts."

Addison sniffled as she tried to hold back her tears. "We wasted so much time. We lived a complete lie for years."

"It wasn't a complete lie. We believed we were married, we still had feelings for one another. We saw one another as spouses. It wasn't a complete lie."

"Derek, if we knew that were weren't legally bound on paper, our relationship would have been over years ago." Addison pointed out.

He just started at her blankly after that comment.

"You would have left me when work gained momentum for you. Or I would have left when work became more important to you than anything else. We wouldn't have hurt each other so much."

Derek nodded, "Yeah, I guess that's true but we didn't know and we did the best we could."

"Can you really say you did the best you could, Derek?" she asked almost bitterly. "Were these last six months in Seattle really the best you could do? You've treated me worse than ever before, Derek."

"You cheated with my best friend! Of course I was doing my best."

Addison rolled her eyes as the baby in her arms started crying. She held him closer and softly rocked him. "I'll be gone by next week." she told him. "And we can keep our individual assets and liquidate and split the profits on joint assets. Okay?"

Derek nodded. "Actually, I had something else in mind."

"I'm not agreeing to pay you alimony just because I made slightly more than you did. In fact, we're not legally married so you don't get alimony."

"I wasn't going to ask for alimony. I was going to say that we don't have to split all of the joint assets. I just want the land in Seattle. You can keep the Hamptons and the Brownstone. You can keep the stocks and bonds. I just want Seattle."

She stared at him as if he were crazy. "Derek, you're giving up millions in assets. Do you realize that?"

"Yes, I do. But I just want Seattle."

"Okay," she agreed, getting up to put the baby back down in his incubator. "You can have Seattle. I'm leaving anyway so Seattle is all yours."

"You're leaving?" That detail caught Derek by surprise. He knew Addison had a contract with Seattle Grace and she was not the type of person who would break a professional contract for personal reasons. "What about your contract? What about Christopher ?"

"Richard will be meeting with the board to discuss it. I've offered to buy out. And I don't know. I haven't really thought about custody arrangements yet."

"Well, where are you going to go? Back home?"

"Where is home, Derek?"

"New York?"

She briefly meet his eyes, "New York was home because we made it home. It's not home anymore." Technically, home was Connecticut. She was born and raised there, but she never felt at home in her childhood house with her family. Home quickly became anywhere Derek was. They made their home in New York, his family became her family. Without him, she was back to having no home.

"Then where will you go?" he asked curiously. He hadn't appeared this concerned about her in years.

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

He stared at her, "Of course it matters! I need to know where my kid would be."

"Well, he won't be in a tin can so I can already tell you it'll be a better living situation than he's got now."

"I'm not giving up custody, Addison. Just because we're not legally married does not make him any less my son."

"I'm not asking you to give up custody. But I'm not giving you primary physical custody after you took off in the middle of the night and left him behind for months without so much as trying to call him."

"I wasn't walking out on him. I was walking out on you." Derek reminded him.

Addison glared at him. "God forbid you miss an opportunity to rub that in my face." She rolled her eyes and got up to put the baby down in his incubator. She spared Derek one more glare before leaving the NICU without another word.

* * *

The following morning Derek came into work and, as luck would have it, his first patient needed an OB consult. He had her paged, but when she didn't answer, he decided to go find her. He checked the NICU, expecting to find her rounding on her tiniest patients first. She wasn't there. Next he tried labor and delivery but no one had seen her since the previous day. He checked the OR board but she wasn't scheduled for a single procedure. He tried calling her a few times but she didn't answer any of the calls. Just as he was about to give up, he ran into Richard in the hallway.

"Oh, thank god you're here. Have you seen or heard from Addison? I've been going crazy trying to find her and she won't answer her phone. I need an OB consult."

"She left. You'll have to call someone else. We've got plenty of other OBs here." Richard said simply. "You know, I never understood why you two specifically paged one other for field specific consults. Is it a billing thing? Like if you call her, she bills for the consult rather than a stranger and that's more money in the household. Because that's unethical. Not illegal, per se but unethical."

"Left?" Derek questioned, ignoring everything else Richard said. "Left work for the day?"

"Left Seattle. I don't know when she's coming back. I don't know if she's coming back. She took a leave of absence while the board determines if they will let her out of her contact."

"And if they let her out, she's not coming back? What about my kid?"

"I would assume not," Richard shrugged. "I don't know."

* * *

Finally thought of a story plot to contribute to this amazing Addek revolution that's going on. I'm super excited about it and I hope you guys like it. Please, please let leave a review and let me know what you think so far. :)


	2. Chapter 2

"Where are we going?" Christopher asked her as he sat in the front of seat of the red convertible she rented on a whim. They'd be driving for over 12 hours and it was the first time he'd bothered asking.

"Los Angeles."

"Why?" he asked.

"Do you remember Maya and her parents?" Addison asked. "We're going to see them."

"What about Daddy? Is he coming later?"

"Daddy is not going to come."

"Why?" he asked again.

"Remember when he was living in Seattle while we were still living in New York? It's kind of like that. Except he'll be in Seattle and we'll be in LA for a while."

"Can I talk to him this time?" He asked, pushing up his kid sized Ray Ban aviator glasses to look at his mother.

"You can talk to him anytime you want, sweetheart."

He smiled contently, lowered his glasses and looked back at the road ahead. "Can I have animal fries when we get there?"

"Can you have what?" Addison asked with a quirked brow, taking her eyes off the road for a split second to look at him.

"Animal Fries." he repeated.

"What are animal fries?"

"From In N' Out. It's fries with stuff on it."

"You know about In N' Out?"

"A kid from my class talks about it all the time. He's from San Diego. That's somewhere in California, right?"

"It is," Addison confirmed.

"And Uncle Archie told me about it. He says it's better than Shake Shack."

"Well, Archer approves then we have to try it," Addison smiled at her son.

Christopher sat there quietly for a minute, trying to decide if he wants to push his luck. "Mom, you know what else is in California?"

"What?"

"Disneyland," He paused for a second before adding, "And Legoland."

* * *

Addison was in the bathroom of their hotel room. She was doing her making up, trying hard not to eavesdrop on the phone conversation her son was sharing with his father. It wasn't working too well and getting ready was taking her much longer than usual with the distraction.

"Mom?" she heard the little voice call her. "Daddy wants to talk to you."

She froze for a second when her son came over with her cell phone stuck out for her to take.

"Addie?" she heard Derek ask from the other end of the line. That's when she took the phone and held it to her ear.

"Hi," she said softly, before covering the bottom half of the phone. "Sweetie, can you lower the volume on the TV? We want to be able to hear the door when room service arrives.

Christopher nodded, effectively leaving the room to give her parents privacy.

"So Los Angeles, huh?"

"Yeah."

"You know, when one parents takes a child without the other parent's consent, it's called kidnapping."

"I didn't kidnap him. You can see him anytime you would like. I just couldn't leave my son and walk away like you did in New York."

He was silent for a few seconds, not prepared to her that response. He was just trying to make a joke, a crude joke, but a joke nonetheless. He didn't have any intention of starting a fight so he changed the conversation. "I haven't been to LA," Derek replied. "Do you like it?"

"I've only been here for a few hours. I haven't really seen much of it to have an answer for you."

"Well, Chris sounds like he loves it."

Addison laughed, "Yeah, he is very excited. Our hotel is beachfront and you know how he feels about the beach."

"Yeah, I do. I spent many millions on a house in the hamptons because of his affinity for the beach."

"And mine," Addison reminded. "And it wasn't just your money. It was ours."

"Right," he mumbled. He had been trying to avoid words like 'ours' and 'us.'

"When are you going to come back?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she admitted. "Derek, I had the rug pulled out from under me. The last third of my life has been a lie. You were never my husband."

"Does a piece of paper really change that much?"

"Yes! Yes, it does," she exclaimed. "And now you have Meredith, and you get a fresh start and I don't. For the rest of my life, I get to live with that fact that I spent 15 years total in love with a man I never really had. I need to get away from that and start over. So I don't know if I'll come back. I don't know what I'll do."

"What about Chris? You can't just take him and run."

"I'm not as strong as you, Derek. I can't leave him behind and run without him. He's my son."

"He's my son, too."

"I know. I'm not going to keep him from you. I just needed some space to figure things out for myself. You can call him anytime you want. I told him the same thing. But I've never been away from him by choice for longer than a couple of days. He's all I have."

"Okay."

"I gotta go, Derek," she said after a second of silence.

"Okay," Derek sighed. "Bye, Addie."

* * *

"I don't understand." His mother said to him over the phone. "What do you mean you were never married to begin with? I was at the wedding, Derek. I was also around for the storm after you two snuck away to elope with Elvis."

"We didn't elope with Elvis. All of the good chapels with interesting impersonators were taken. We ended up at a tiny shack like chapel and we were married by a drag queen."

"Whatever. Point is, you eloped."

"We thought we did. The place wasn't licensed to perform weddings. We never had a legal marriage license."

"Derek!" His mother exclaimed in disapproval. "How could you let that happen?"

"We didn't know!"

"You've been living with her out of wedlock for years." His mother told him in disapproval. What she didn't know is that they'd been living together, out of wedlock, for years before their wedding.

"We did a lot more than just living together, Mom," he chuckled.

"Oh, I know, trust me, you two have never been subtle with…" she paused, trying to filter her words. "That."

"Mom, that's the least of our problems, don't you think?"

"Living in sin is the least of your problems?" His mother replied. "Oh my god…"

"What? What now?"

"You have a child! You have a child with a woman you're not legally married to. He's an illegitimate child! He is literally a bastard. How could you do this?!"

"I didn't know! And don't call my kid a bastard. We didn't know. We were under the impression that we were married when he was conceived and when he was born."

"A child born out of wedlock…" his mother mumbled to herself.

"Mom, I think you're missing the bigger picture here."

"I don't think I am. This is unacceptable. What do you want me to do? Go back in time and go to a different chapel?"

"Do you finally see why you were wrong to elope in Las Vegas?"

"I don't think now is the time for a lesson, Mom," he sighed.

"Bizzy and I have never agreed on anything….except that. She was ready to kill the two of you and I would have been right beside her hiding the bodies."

" _Addison! I need you down here to finalize the menu with the caterer. I heard Derek sneaking in there in the middle of the night so wake him up and get down here!" Bizzy called through the door of her daughter's bedroom. They had a few days off of work and Bizzy had occupied all of their time with wedding planning._

 _When Bizzy heard nothing in response she knocked on the door. Still nothing. "Fine, Addison, I'm coming in there and if I see anything that may cause temporary blindness, I'm cutting you off!" her mother threatened before opening the door and fine the room empty and the bed perfectly made._

 _Little did she know Derek and Addison had snuck off to Vegas on the family's private jet in the middle of the night. They had landed before dawn and were married in a tiny shack bearing the title of a chapel in the outskirts of downtown Las Vegas._

 _They were back in Connecticut by sunset that same day. The second they walked into the Montgomery estate, they were met with Bizzy, the Captain, Carolyn, and Archer (who had the world's biggest smirk on his face.)_

" _What's with the look?" Derek asked._

" _I'm about to become the sole heir of all of this," he replied, vaguely gesturing around them._

" _Addison Forbes- Montgomery," Bizzy began with a look that almost literally could shoot out daggers. "If you.."_

" _Shepherd." Derek added, interrupting Bizzy. He held up his left hand to reveal a platinum wedding band. They had purchased the band for their wedding ceremony, scheduled to take place in under a month._

" _You got married," Carolyn stared at them blankly. "Oh my god, are you pregnant?!"_

" _What?" Addison's face turned red with embarrassment and Derek's eyes widened in shock. Neither of them were expecting that question and until that second, they didn't realize that was the impression people would get after hearing news of their surprise elopement._

" _No. No, I'm not pregnant."_

 _Carolyn ignored her and looked at her son, "Derek Christopher Shepherd, if you impregnated this poor girl out of wedlock I will castrate you."_

" _I did not!" He exclaimed loudly._

" _If you're pregnant, you're getting an abortion. Shotgun wedding or not." Bizzy continued. "We are Forbes-Montgomerys. We do not birth bastard children. We uphold the highest morals and virtues and bastards are far from that!"_

" _Bizzy, I am not pregnant."_

" _Are you sure?" her father asked._

" _We are sure." Derek responded, earning a glare from his mother-in-law and his mother._

" _Addison, if you don't take that ring off and wait for the wedding, I will saw your finger off," her mother threatened. "I did not spend half a million dollars on my only daughter's wedding for her to run and elope in the middle of a desert with Elvis."_

" _It was actually a drag queen. All of the Elvis places were booked." Derek informed his mother-in-law. "Dressed as Cher. We thought it was pretty hilarious. I'm a low-key Cher fan."_

 _Bizzy turned to her husband, "I think I'm going to kill them. If I kill them, you have to make it look like an accident. I won't survive in jail." She told her husband firmly. It was not a request. It was a command._

 _The Captain wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. They were rarely affectionate so both Archer and Addison knew he wasn't reassuring her, he was restraining her in a socially acceptable way. "They are not cancelling the wedding," he told her softly. Again, making it seem like a reassurance when it was really an order for her daughter._

" _They're not?" Carolyn asked unsurely. She was far from fluent in WASP and had no idea what was going on._

" _Of course not. My little girl's always wanted a lavish wedding. I'm sure they just got excited and didn't want to wait anymore," he turned to his daughter, meeting her eyes with a pointed look. "Right, Addison?"_

" _Right," she stuttered against her will. "We're not cancelling the wedding. Just got excited."_

" _But," Derek tried to interject when Addison shot him a look that caused his mouth to clamp shut._

" _Right," she said again as verification._

" _Good, because if you try to take this away from us, I will cut you off. No money to pay rent on that Manhattan penthouse. No money for the private chauffeur waiting on your beckon call. No private chef cooking you gourmet meals while you're off shoving your hands up women's…" she stopped herself. "Well, you know."_

" _Understood, Bizzy. We are not cancelling the wedding."_

 _Bizzy gave her a curt nod. "Shall we get back to finalizing that guest list, Carolyn?" she asked._

 _Carolyn nodded and followed her back toward the living room. As they walked away they heard Carolyn say, "I would have gladly helped bury the bodies if you had killed them for this stunt."_

* * *

"I'm uh.. Looking for Dr. Naomi Bennett."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I'm a friend. She is not expecting me." Addison told her young, blond receptionist.

"Addison?!" Naomi called out almost too loud when she came to leave a chart with the receptionist, Dell, she learns is his name. "What are you doing here?!"

"I uh…" She is speechless for a second but her son spoke up to help, "Mommy said she missed you and wanted to see you."

Naomi pulled the little boy into a hug, "Oh my god, when did this child grow up? This is why you keep in touch with people, Addie."

"I know, I'm sorry. I uh, it's just been a rough few months," Addison explained. "Can we talk?"

Naomi nodded, leaving Dell to entertain Christopher while she and Addison spoke in her office.

"Addison, what is going on with you? You've never been this impulsive. Except that time you flew to Vegas and got married in the middle of the night. Driving to LA without a call, randomly decided to have another baby... This isn't the Addison Shepherd I know."

"Montgomery."

"What?" Naomi asked, doing a double take.

"My name. It's Addison Montgomery."

"What happened to the Shepherd?"

"It was never legally there."

"What?" Naomi asked again, completely confused. "You've been publishing with it for years. Why would you publish under a name that's not legally yours?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time. What is going on with you? Start from the beginning and don't skip any details." Naomi replied, grabbing a box of chocolates from her desk drawer and going to sit on one of the couches in her spacious office. She propped her feet up on the table and bit into a chocolate.

"Derek and I were never legally married."

"What are you talking about? I was at the wedding."

"Do you remember that little chapel we went to in Vegas? They were not licensed to perform weddings. We had a fake marriage license. We found out while we were getting ready to file for divorce."

Naomi's eyes went wide and she coughed as she tried to swallow the chocolate in her mouth. Once she recovered from the shock and swallowed the chocolate, she looked over at Addison. "So that's why he's not here with you." she realized.

Addison nodded. "Not that he would be here with me if we were married and together. He lost interest in me a while ago."

"Oh," Naomi mumbled softly. "I never thought you two would get to this point. You were so disgustingly in love."

Addison nodded. "No one ever gets married thinking they'll get divorced, right?" she shrugged at the rhetorical question. "Actually, I can't say that because apparently we were never married to begin with. I just couldn't stay and be around him anymore. I needed space. I need to create a life apart from him."

"You know, we have an empty office and we've been looking to hire another ob/gyn." Naomi hinted.

"I'm a surgeon, Naomi."

"Yeah, and we have a great hospital that's basically down the street. You'd have privileges and we're close to the chief of staff, I'm sure she'd love to have a world renowned neonatologist on staff. We also have great schools for Christopher. Just think about it. It could be a great opportunity."

"Nai…"

"Your office would have an ocean view." Naomi added, as if to sweeten the deal. "And the best part, no Derek. You could be Addison Montgomery, you could be Montgomery-Shepherd, Forbes-Montgomery. Whatever. But you'd be just Addison, not Addison and Derek. Just Addison. Well, just Addison with Chris."

She nodded her head. "I don't even remember what it's like to be just Addison."

"We'll help you figure it out. Think about it, okay?"

Addison looked at her briefly before looking away and nodding her head. "I'll think about it."

* * *

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so glad you guys are liking the story so far. I'm not done outlining it yet, so I'm not even sure how it ends but I'm excited to see where it goes. If you guys have any ideas I can incorperate into the story, let me know!

Thanks for reading!

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 _*Hint_ : Reviews are cool.


	3. Chapter 3

**This update took forever! I'm so sorry. Life got a bit busy and I couldn't keep up. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next update.**

* * *

After an early morning surgery, Derek excused himself into an empty on-call room and dialed his ex-wife's number. As the thought crossed his mind, he paused, noting that Addison wasn't his ex-wife. _Estranged wife?_ He asked himself. _No, we were never really married so she can't be any kind of wife. Ex-fiance? Do we hold the record for world's longest engagment?_ He thought to himself as he waited for someone to answer the phone. After a few seconds, a little voice came onto the line.

"Daddy?" he sounded half asleep but as excited as possible.

"Hey!" he greeted enthusiastically. "Were you asleep?"

"Mhmm," he muttered groggily. "But I'm up now. I miss you."

"I miss you too, son. What about your mom? Is she still asleep?" Derek asked curiously.

Christopher sat up to peer into the other bed in the hotel room. "No, it sounds like she's in the shower."

"Oh," Derek mumbled. "So, uh, when are you two coming back? I can't wait to see you."

"Mommy says we're not," Chris answered.

"Excuse me?" Derek asked, thoroughly confused by the answer. "What do you mean you're not?"

"We're getting a house here! It's a really cool house."

Derek was silent for a while on the other end.

"Daddy?" Christopher asked, unsure if Derek had hung up on him.

"I'm here," Derek spoke up from his end of the line. "Is your mom out of the shower? Can I speak to her? If she's not out, tell her it's an emergency and have her get out."

Christopher groaned unhappily for being forced out of bed. He knocked on the bathroom door. "Mommy? Daddy's gotta talk to you! He says it's an emergecy."

A few seconds later the door opened, towel clad Addison on the other side. Steam spilled out of the bathroom as she opened the door to take the phone.

"What's wrong? What emergecy?" she asked into the phone.

"What the fuck, Addison?" Derek exclaimed into the phone.

"Excuse me?"

"You bought a house?!"

"That doesn't sound like a very emergent issue," Addison teased.

"Answer the question!"

"Yeah, I uh, bought a house. Well, I'm buying a house. They accepted the offer yesterday so we should be going into escrow."

"You bought a house?! You've been there four days and you bought a house? You know they have hotels for temporary lodging. You didn't need a house."

"Derek, I'm moving here," she told him softly. "I'm about to go sign paperwork to become an equal partner in Sam and Naomi's practice."

"A practice? You're a surgeon."

"I've already been granted rights at the local hospital to take on their advanced neonatal and OB cases, both surgical and not."

"Have you thought this through at all? What about Christopher?"

"He really likes it here. He loves the new house. It's right on the beach."

"Was it even for sale or did you just knock on the door, offer a few million and kick out the owners?"

"I've only done that once."

"Yeah, with the Brownstone," Derek recalled.

"Well, I wanted it and it wasn't for sale! And I'm Bizzy's daughter. She always said that there is no such thing as 'not for sale' when you offer enough money."

"200,000 over it's appraised value. That's a whole house in some places."

"Why are you complaining? It's not like I didn't pay it off. And it's not like it hasn't doubled in value since then," she sighed, realizing they were bickering like a married couple. "Derek, you didn't call to discuss my real estate investments."

"I was wondering when you'll be back but I guess I have my answer."

"I need to move on with my life," Addison told him. "And I can't do that around you. I'm sorry. We can figure out custody, okay?"

"We're not going to ship our son between states every other week. What about school?"

"I can send him every other weekend. And you can come in between, whenever you want. He can stay with you."

"Addison, that's ridiculous," he protested.

"That's the best I can offer. I'll have more time to focus on him here. He's better off here."

"Better off in the most superficial city on earth than with his father?"

"With parents who are happy and content with their lives rather than with parents who are close but miserable," Addison corrected. "I'd never take him away from you. I'll use my family jet to have him fly out every weekend, if that's what it takes but this is what I need for me, Derek. I need to do what's best for me for once."

"A good mother always puts her child before herself."

She was silent on her end of the line. A few seconds passed by, "Screw you, Derek," she barely managed to mutter before hanging up.

* * *

After signing on to become a partner in Oceanside Wellness, Addison took her on to register him at a local private school near the practice. Afterward, she went back to the practice where everyone was sitting around in the kitchen waiting impatiently.

"What are you all waiting for?" she asked as she went to the fridge to get green juice. "This stuff is amazing. Why isn't this a thing anywhere else?"

"Dell is on an In N' Out run. But it's lunchtime so the wait is probably an hour at this point," Sam replied. "Naomi took the liberty of ordering for you and Chris."

"Thanks, Nai. Chris has been whining since we got here to try it. I don't even know how he knows about it. " she smiled as she took a sip of the juice.

"It's amazing and everyone should know about it. Shake Shack and SteakNShake can suck it." Cooper replied before noticing the child in the room. "Sorry, kid, don't repeat that."

Violet rolled her eyes at him, "Such a manchild."

"It's okay, he's heard worse. His father and I aren't too great at censoring ourselves sometimes. He knows not to repeat those things, right, Christopher?"

"Right," he mumbled as he sat quietly in the room full of strangers. "Can I go call Daddy?"

"Yeah, you can," his mother approved. "Naomi showed us my office this morning, remember? You can go in there and call him. There was a phone on the desk."

"How come they get to make long distance phone calls on the company line and I can't?" Cooper asked once Christopher left.

"Because he's calling his father, not a phone sex line," Violet mumbled under her breath as Dell walked in with many white, red and yellow bag.

"This bag is for you and Chris," Dell said as he handed one over. "Naomi order a plain for you two, but I had them give spread on the side if you guys wants to try it."

"Spread?" she repeated with a quirked brow.

"Yeah, that's their sauce. It's basically thousand island."

"They named their sauce Spread?" Addison asked judgmentally. That was a pretty pathetic name for a sauce. "At least Shake Shack calls theirs Shack Sauce. It's more creative than spread."

"Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it." Cooper commented, already half done with his Double Double.

"Oh, and someone sent you flowers. Congratulatory I assume, but the card said 'Sorry' on it. No name. I put them in your new office." Dell told her.

"Okay, thanks, Dell." She said as she took the bag of food to her office where her son was sitting on the chair behind the desk with the phone to his ear. There was an extravagant arrangement of flowers sitting on the corner of the desk. She reached for the card only to see the word "Sorry" typed onto it. There was no name, but she was pretty sure she knew who it was from.

"I brought you your burger, buddy," she told her son.

"Daddy's not answering."

"Maybe he's busy." she suggested.

"Maybe he doesn't want to talk to me like he didn't last time," Chris offered as an alternative theory.

Addison shook her head, dismissing that notion. "He spoke to you this morning. He does want to talk to you. I'm sure he's just busy. We'll try again later, okay?"

Chris nodded as he peaked into the bag of food. "Okay."

Addison spent the next few hours getting settled into her new office. At first, Christopher was excited to help her decide where her diploma would go, where the book shelf would look best, how to arrange her furniture; but all of that quickly got old. He ended up forcing himself to nap on the couch out of sheer boredom while his mother unpacked boxes and boxes of thick textbooks onto a new assembled shelf.

The phone on her desk rang and she rushed to get it before it could wake her son. She didn't officially have patients yet, and she doubted the possibly of drug reps chasing her so soon. She was sure it was one of her co-workers about something trivial so she answered with a casual, "Hello?"

The person on the other end didn't pay attention to the voice, he was too distracted trying to pour milk into his afternoon coffee. "I had a few missed calls from this number," he replied. "Just calling back."

"Derek?"

It took him a second to recognize the voice. "Addison?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. _He already doesn't recognize my voice_ , she thought to herself. "This is the direct line to my office. Chris was calling you with my office phone earlier," she explained. "He's asleep now."

"Oh," he replied awkwardly. "Did you get the flowers?"

"I did. There was no name but I assumed they were from you."

"I'm sorry about this morning. I was out of line."

She remained silent, unsure of how to respond.

"It's your life and you need to do what makes you happy. We can figure out the custody issue later. We can be adult and amicable about this."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Derek."

"Yeah, well I've been doing a lot of thinking since I spoke to you this morning. I was very out of line and I feel terrible about what I said. I was angry but that's not an excuse. I know things didn't work out with us, but you were my best friend for a really long time and I don't want to throw that away. I know it will never be the same but the least we can do is be respectful, at least for our son. I didn't do that this morning. I'm really sorry."

"Apology accepted," she replied, unsure of what else she could say.

"I gotta get back to work but I'll call Chris tonight before bed, okay?" he asked hopefully.

"Okay."

* * *

As days went on, Addison and Christopher created a new routine for themselves. He started school, while she started seeing patients and taking consults at the hospital. Derek would call Christopher daily, and he'd usually have brief conversation with Addison before or after those calls. She'd spend all day with her co-workers and they were quickly becoming family to them. When her cell phone rang, she reached for it assuming it was Cooper about food. She had already answered the call when she realized the name on her caller ID was not her co-worker, it was her mother. Would it be too obvious if she hung up now?

"California?!" Bizzy Forbes-Montgomery yelled as soon as Addison answered her cell phone. "Why would you move to California?! It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't Los Angeles! What is wrong with you, Addison?!"

"What is wrong with Los Angeles?"

"It's where starving actors go to feel relevant!" Bizzy exclaimed with judgement laced in her words.

"And New York isn't full of starving actors? LA is actually a great fit for me and Christopher."

"New York was a fine fit for you and Christopher."

"New York was home. It's not anymore. I needed something new," Addison explained to her mother. "How did you even find out about the move?"

"Archer mentioned it to me. Who would have thought Archer would be my more sane, logical child?" Bizzy asked rhetorically.

"Sane and logical are not words I would use to describe Archer."

"Well, he's not living in Los Angeles so…" she trailed off. "How's Christopher liking it? You took that poor New York born and bred child and plopped him down in that smog infested ghetto."

"He loves it. We are moving into a house on the beach and he loves the beach."

"Oh, goodness. You're turning the only name bearing heir to the Montgomery name into a beach going hippie. Is this because of the divorce? Is that why you're being so drastic and reckless?"

"Moving to Los Angeles hardly constitutes reckless and drastic," she defended herself. "And there was no divorce."

"I don't understand. You're still married to Derek?"

"No."

"So there was a divorce," Bizzy stated plainly.

"No."

"I don't understand," she repeated.

"Derek and I were never legally married so we didn't have to get a legal divorce."

"What?"

"Derek and I were…" Addison started but she was cut off by her mother.

"I heard you. I don't understand. How were you not legally married? Montgomerys don't do domestic partnership. I would have disowned you before allowing you to live with a man out of wedlock."

"We thought we were married but it turns out, our marriage license was invalid because it was not issued by an authorized agency."

"What was the issuing agen…" she paused and a second later Addison head a quiet chuckle from her mother. "The stupid chapel in Las Vegas…" she remembered. "I knew that would come back to haunt you one day."

"I really don't need a lecture right now, Bizzy."

"No lecture, just a simple 'I told you so.'" Bizzy replied smugly and then suddenly her smirk disappeared and her face paled. Her silence on the phone became deafening.

"Bizzy?" Addison asked, partially thinking she may have hung up on her.

"What about Christopher?" Bizzy finally asked after almost a full minute of silence.

"What about him?"

"You're not legally married," Bizzy stated obviously. "That means he…" she stopped and cringed. "He was born out of wedlock."

"I uh…" Addison hadn't thought about that. "I guess, yes, he legally is born out of wedlock. But uh, Derek and I had been under the assumption that we had been married for years when he was born."

"He was legally born out of wedlock," Bizzy repeated her daughter's words. "The only name bearing, blood relative of the Forbes-Montgomery legacy was born out of wedlock."

"Bizzy, no one has to know."

"The only name bearing, blood relative of the Forbes-Montgomery legacy was born out of wedlock," the older woman repeated quietly, mostly to herself. Her heart started pounding and she felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. "I uh…" she paused. "I need to go. I need a martini or six."

* * *

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 **Reviews are really cool.**


	4. Chapter 4

Derek sat down at a table in the cafeteria by himself and looked down at his tray. He had a salad, a side of fries, and a bottle of water. Just as he started eating, someone sat across from him and he looked up from his food to see it was a woman he vaguely recognized.

"Hi," she greeted smoothly.

"Hi," he responded awkwardly.

"I'm Kelly, I'm a nurse practitioner down in the ER," she explained when she realized he had no idea who she was.

"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing you around," he replied, looking around at all the empty tables and wondering why she was sitting right at his.

She smiled flirtatiously, "I ask you for a lot of consults." She shrugged, "Sometimes it's just an excuse to get you down to the ER."

"Well, that's quite flattering, I guess..."

She smiled again as she reached across the table to take a french fry off his tray.

Derek's heart started pounding as he watched her bite into the fry. He didn't really like french fries too much. They were Addison's guilty pleasure. She never bought them with her own lunch, but anytime he did, she'd steal some off his plate. It became a habit for him to buy a small side of fries to share between them. He hadn't even realized that the habit was still a part of his routine until he watched another woman eat his french fries. Was that a sexual pun? He asked himself immediately after the thought crossed his mind.

"I'm sorry, do you not like sharing food?"

"No, I don't mind at all. I just, I usually share food with my wife."

"Your wife?! I thought you were divorced! I thought she left."

"She's in Los Angeles with our son."

"But you got divorced. Everyone was talking about that divorce."

"We didn't get divorced, we couldn't."

"I don't understand," the woman stared at him. "You couldn't so you're now separated while you try to figure out the divorce?"

"No, we gave up on the possibility of the divorce."

"So you're not getting a divorce?"

"This is a very personal conversation to have with a woman I've only seen a few times in the ER," Derek replied uncomfortably.

"For the first time in my life I took a risk and made an attempt to make the first move!" she exclaimed in humiliation.

"I'm not getting divorced," he repeated. It wasn't a lie. He wasn't getting a divorce. He couldn't because he didn't have a legal spouse to get a divorce from.

"Oh, my god. I just humiliated myself in front of the head of neurosurgery." she covered her face with her hands.

"It's okay, I don't judge," he replied with a small chuckle, trying to make the situation less uncomfortable. He really didn't have room to judge given the mess that his life had become.

"I'm gonna go sit...anywhere else."

Derek chuckled. "Okay. Sorry about the misunderstanding."

"And, for the love of god, start wearing your wedding ring. There is a long list of women waiting for their turn to do this."

* * *

Christopher sat at the dinner table in their new beach house. He stared down at his plate and pushed around the food, which his mother had cut up into perfectly even pieces for him.

"Is something wrong?" Addison asked as she brought a forkful of chicken to her lips.

"Where did you buy this?" the little boy asked her, sounding disappointed and judgemental.

"Where did I buy what?"

"This," he said, using his fork to point out the food on his plate.

"I bought the stuff from the grocery story and I made it."

"You made it?" he asked doubtfully. He knew his mother avoided cooking as much as possible.

"Yes."

"You don't cook," he reminded her.

"Right, I don't cook. That doesn't mean I don't know how to cook," she told her son with a smirk. "I actually really like cooking and I'm kind of good at it. Usually, I worked so much that I was too tired to cook when I got home. But now I work less so I have more time to do things like this. Do you like it?"

He didn't answer. Just quietly stared down at his plate.

"Christopher?"

"It's okay," he mumbled.

"Just okay? What's wrong with it?"

Chris shrugged. "It's just different." Derek pushed to make chicken all the time. Usually baked chicken breast, which Christopher loved. Addison had also use chicken breast, but instead of just baking in, she made chicken piccata.

"I know," Addison replied softly in response. She should have known better than to assume her son would think it was close enough to regular, baked chicken breast.

"Am I gonna get a different daddy too?"

"What?" She asked, stalling for time. Why couldn't you just make regular chicken and avoid this whole conversation? She asked herself.

"Cameron, one of the kids in the my new class, he has a stepdad. That's when your mom marries someone who is not your dad. Am I gonna get a stepdad?"

Addison just stared at him, a forkful of chicken halfway between her open mouth and her plate. She needed a second to try to give her son the most appropriate answer. "Honey, no one will ever replace your dad, no matter what."

He looked at her quietly before looking down at his plate and pushing it away. "I don't want anymore."

"You barely had any."

"I'm not hungry," he replied as he poked at the thin piece of chicken on his plate.

"Well you need to eat a little more. I worked really hard on this meal, Christopher."

"I don't want it!" he repeated louder. "I want cereal."

"You can't have cereal for dinner."

"I want cereal," he repeated firmly.

Addison sighed. This was Derek's department, Derek could get their son to eat just about anything. He had taught him to eat trout without complaining while they lived in Seattle. She wasn't quite as convincing. "Just eat a few more bites and you can go," she tried.

"I want Daddy!" he yelled as he stormed away from the table after shoving the plate so hard that it slipped off the other end of the round table and fell onto the floor.

Addison covered her face with her hands, trying her best to remain patient. It was times like this that she hated being a single mother.

* * *

That night Derek went the bar across he street from work, a favorite hang out for most of the Seattle Grace staff. It's where he met Meredith, it's also where he'd told Addison he might still be in love with her. Thinking back, he wondered _Why did I bring my wife to the exact place I met my girlfriend?_

He saw Richard sitting at the bar and went over to sit on the bar stool next to him. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before," he admitted.

"I came to see what all the hype is about," he admitted. "I don't really drink anymore so I can't judge the drinks and the crowd is so..." he paused and looked around. "Young."

"Yeah," Derek agreed before ordering himself a drink. "I met Meredith here on my first day in Seattle."

"Didn't you come here with Addison a few times after work?" he asked, sounding a little confused. The same thought was obviously running through his mind. Why bring your wife to the birthplace of your relationship with another woman?

"How'd you know about that?"

"We'd talk. She used mention that she was hoping to meet you here after work once in a while. The first time was right after you got back together, if I remember correctly. She was worried that you'd forget and not show up."

"That happened once or twice in the last few years we were together. More, if I'm being honest," he replied, voice so quiet he almost sounded ashamed. He also realized he'd said "together" instead of "married." He'd been working on that. He found comfort the ambuguity of the wording. "I was a pretty bad husband, now that I think about it."

Richard shrugged, "No one is perfect, don't beat yourself up over it. Just try not to make the same mistakes next time."

"Next time?" Derek asked, brow quirked up before he took a sip of his scotch.

"In your next relationship," Richard elaborated. "Aren't you dating Meredith?"

"No, I'm not ready to date yet," Derek admitted. "A nurse asked me out while I was having lunch at work today. She was pretty, seemed intelligent but I told her I was married."

"You're not married," Richard pointed out to him.

"It was just an insintual response. Addison never really took her rings off and when she did, they were pinned to her scrubs or on a chain around her neck. I would take my ring off before the OR and leave it in my locker and forget it for hours, sometimes days at a time. So I've been asked out my fair share of times and my go to response was that I'm married. It became insinct."

"Well, you gotta work on that because you need to get back on the horse eventually."

Derek nodded, "I guess I'll get there eventually," he mumbled as he drained the scotch in his glass in one gulp.

* * *

Addison stood in an exam room with a chart in her hands. She glanced up to see her patient staring at her hands.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"How long have you been married?" the woman responded, catching Addison completely off guard.

Her heart started pounding a little harder, realizing the woman was staring at the rings she couldn't bring herself to stop wearing. "Excuse me?" she finally asked, hoping that she had only imagined the whole conversation.

"How long have you been married?" she repeated.

"I uh," she took in a breath to stall and think. "Eleven years," she finally answered.

"Any kids?"

"We have a son."

"So you did everything you were supposed to do," the woman on the exam table pointed out.

Addison gave her a confused look. "In what sense?"

"You're married, you've got a good job, you've got a kid. That's everything, isn't it? That's everything that's expected of a woman. My husband left my because I can't have kids. He's with a younger woman now. She's having his baby. Our divorce isn't even finalized and he's having a baby with another woman and I'm here to get a second opinion on having my entire reproductive system removed."

Addison put down the chart and put a hand on the woman's arm. "I'm so sorry," she said softly. "If you want children, regardless of whether or not your husband is in or out, regardless of whether or not you need this surgery, you can have children. These will just be another hurdle to jump over but you can still have your dream."

"And be a single mother struggling to keep up with everything? You probably wouldn't understand how hard that is. You probably have the perfect husband. The kind who is considerate enough to do dishes once in awhile, who makes you breakfast in bed, who pays attention to every tiny detail about your existence. The kind that doesn't have disgusting habits like clipping his toe nails in bed. He probably is this perfect father who is involved in every possible aspect of parenting and you're on the same page about every tiny detail of your child's upbringing. Meanwhile, I get the asshole and have to raise a kid alone?"

Addison met her eyes silently, wishing she could bring herself to be honest about her circumstances. "Let's just take it one step at a time, okay? Let me finish taking a look at the ultrasound pictures your other doctor sent over and then we'll do a quick exam and get together a game plan for you, okay?"

A part of her felt guilty for lying and giving off the impression that she had her life together, but she knew better than to share her personal drama with a patient.

* * *

"You look terrible," Naomi told her when she walked into Addison's office and saw her sitting behind her desk absently picking at at a salad with her fork.

"Thanks," Addison mumbled tiredly.

"What's wrong?"

"Chris knocked over a plate full of chicken piccata last night and it gave me an emotional breakdown," she admitted. "That child really knows how to test my patience sometimes. And my patient just told me that I wouldn't understand what's it's like to be a single mother and it took every ounce of self restraint I have not to snap at her."

"Why would you make chicken piccata for your eight year old?"

"Because he loves chicken! Chicken breast is like 80 percent of his diet!"

"That's because it's the baldest, boringest protein. It's a safe bet. And you went and covered it with a lemon caper sauce? He's a child, Addison, kids want the basics. A little salt, maybe pepper, if he's feeling adventurous, and that's it."

Addison rolled her eyes, "I know that now. After spending two hours cleaning said lemon caper sauce of my white upholstered chair."

"Mac and cheese- from a box, not with a homemade, bougie bechamel sauce. Fish stricks, not baked salmon. Plain pasta. Stick to the basics."

"It was so much easier when Derek was responsible for feeding him. It was easier when I wasn't doing this alone!"

"Of course it was easier. Being a single mom isn't easy. You'll learn as you go, it'll get better."

"Derek is back in Seattle, probably dating 12 year olds and enjoying the life of a suddenly single thirtysomething and I'm here cleaning lemon caper sauce off my chair while sobbing hysterically."

"I think it's good that you didn't jump right back into dating. You're rediscovering yourself and that's important after divorce."

"I hate my life," Addison mumbled as she shoved a forkful of salad into her mouth.

Naomi rolled her eyes, "You'll be fine. Stop being dramatic. You'll be ready to start dating again before you know it. And that phase is fun, trust me."

"Dating?"

"Yeah, dating. You are planning to get back out there eventually, aren't you?"

Addison stared blankly at her.

"Addie?"

"Dating hasn't even really crossed my mind. I haven't dated in over a decade. I don't even think I remember how to date."

"It's fun. It's different now. You're different. What you want in a relationship is different. When you get out there, you'll be surprised by how different it is."

"This wasn't supposed to happen. I'm 37, I'm not supposed to be dating! I'm supposed to be happily married to the father of my child. We were supposed to get old together! We were supposed to bicker about who gets to die first! I wasn't supposed to be a 37 year old single mother," she paused her rant to look down at her left hand. "And I can't bring myself to take these stupid rings off because I don't want the world to know that I'm a 37 year old single mother!"

"Maybe you still need some time in the angry phase," Naomi conceded.

* * *

Okay, this update took way longer than I hoped it would. I lost my muse for a while but it seems to be back so yay! I'm gonna try to crank the next one out as soon as possible.

Review! I like reading them and *hint* they are great motivation.


	5. Chapter 5

Derek's first trip to Los Angeles had been a spur of the moment decision. He'd gotten home from work, pondering what he could do with two whole days off when he didn't have anyone to spend it with. Suddenly, he was buying plane tickets to and front Los Angeles. He flew out that night, and took a taxi to Addison's house.

The second he put own food out of the taxi and in her driveway, he felt out of place. The house was so different than what he's always expected from Addison. He forced himself to the front door and knocked. A few second later a man answered the door.

Derek stared at him. "I'm looking for Addison Montgomery-Shep...Montgomery. I must have the wrong house."

"No, this is her house. Well, Addison Montgomery's. Not Montgomery-Shep-Montgomery," he joked in response.

"And you are?" Derek asked curiously. Is she dating already? And he's already at home at her place?How'd she manage to move on so quickly?

"Shouldn't I be asked you that?"

"I'm the father of her child," he replied, staring at the man blankly.

"Oh! Derek, right? I'm Cooper. I work with Addison at the same practice. She is having a girl's night with other coworkers and I'm here babysitting. It was supposed to be Pete but Addison decided being a pediatrician makes me the ideal babysitter."

"You're not dating her?"

"Dating Addison?" He laughed. "I can't date real people. I stick to online dating."

"Oh," Derek replied still standing outside.

"Wanna come in? Chris is watching TV. If Addison calls, he's reading Tolstoy."

Derek laughed and stepped in. He took in the decor of the house, clean and modern. His son was glued to the TV with a bowl of popcorn near him. "Chris," he called out for his son's attention.

Chris looked back, didn't react and turned back to the screen. A second later he did a double take. "Dad?!" He exclaimed and jumped to his feet to run over.

"Surprise!" He exclaimed just in time to catch the little boy running toward him. He squeezed his son tightly and lifted him off the floor. "I miss you so much!" He exclaimed as he set him down again.

"I missed you more!"

"Impossible!" Derek exclaimed.

"How about you both agree that you miss one another equally and we can get back to Finding Dory? I wanna see how it ends."

Christopher looked up at his father.

"I guess we can agree on that," Derek nodded and scooped his son up again. "Right, Chris?"

"No, I miss you more."

Two hours later the front door opened and Addison stepped in in a cocktail dress and kicked off the nude pumps she was wearing. She took a few steps from the foyer to the living room and froze when she saw Derek asleep on her couch with Christopher sprawled out on top of him.

It took everything Addison had in her not to scream. She took a break to gather herself and then she poked his shoulder. He didn't move so she poked him again.

The second time Derek felt a poke on his shoulder, he opened his eyes to see her standing there.

"Hey," he whispered groggily.

"You're on my couch," she replied back quietly so she wouldn't wake their sleeping son.

"Surprise," he mumbled as he carefully shifted his son off of him so he could sit up.

"Surprise?" she repeated, staring at her non-husband with a quirked brow. "I don't understand, Derek," she said as she ventured into the kitchen, suddenly desperate for a glass of wine. She took an opened bottle from her wine fridge and filled a glass for herself.

"What about mine? Your hostess skills could use some work," he commented.

She looked up from the glass, giving him a deathly glare. "Excuse me? You show up at my house unannounced and I have to act like I'm thrilled to have you here? Why would I do that?"

"I thought we were being amicable."

"I move across the country- again- to get away from you. Why would that give you the impression that we are amicable?" she wondered as she took a sip. "Was it amicable when you left me to go across the country?"

"I didn't cheat on you, that's the difference."

Addison rolled her eyes, "I move away and I still can't escape this conversation."

"Relax, I came to see Christopher."

"And you invited yourself into my house, without my knowledge," she added. "I'm trying to start fresh here."

"You said I can come see him anytime I want."

"You can, of course you can, but you have to tell me first, Derek. What if I was planning to bring my date home?"

"Your date? He asked, raising an eyebrow. "You were out with Naomi and the shrink from your practice. I'd hardly call that a date and I doubt you'd be interested in them in that way. We may have grown apart but I know you well enough to know you men too much to swing for the other team."

Addison rolled her eyes.

"I came to see my son. That's it. I didn't come here to intrude on your life. I didn't come here to convince you to take me back. I just came to see my kid."

"Call next time. That's all I'm asking."

"Okay," he conceded. "This time it was a last second whim. Next time I'll plan ahead."

"Thank you. I'm should get him up to bed," she said softly.

"I'll get him," Derek offered, moving toward the couch to pick up the sleeping child.

"His room is the door at the end of the hall to your left," Addison told him as he made his way up the stairs. She started straightening out the door stairs without turning back to watch him.

He got to the top of the stairs and made a right instead of a left. He opened the closed door to find the master bedroom. The furniture was white, the walls were yellow. He looked around in confusion with the child growing heavier in his arms. The room was the exact opposite of their bedroom in New York. In New York she'd insisted on dark mahogany furniture and an earthy color for the walls. She kept the lighting dim, insisting it contributed to the ambience of the place.

He slowly backed out and went to the door on the opposite side. Derek opened the door to find light blue walls with framed black and white photos of boats. He put the child down on the bed and his eyes caught a glimpse of the framed photo on the bedside table. It was a photo on a boat- god forbid it went against the theme of the room- but not just any boat, Addison's father's boat. Derek was sitting by the bow with a tiny Christopher on his lap, both of them holding onto a fishing pole, faces lit with excitement as they tried reeling in their catch.

When he looked up, he saw Addison standing quietly at the door. "I remember this," he said, turning the photo for her to see. "It was when you and Archer decided you knew enough to be able to sail the Captain's boat without him."

"We were able to sail it without him."

"We got lost."

"We did not! We just got delayed returning to shore," Addison defended.

"And why was that?"

She stared at him quietly.

"Perhaps because someone couldn't steer to pick up wind and we ended up in irons with a boat sick four year old for two hours."

"Hey, I got us back, didn't I?"

"I think that was the coast guard but I'll let you take credit for it," he replied with a smirk.

Addison rolled her eyes and came further into the room to tuck her son under the covers. She left his stuffed shark next to his pillow and then turned off the light, leaving a small fish shaped night light on. She headed back toward the door but stopped and turned when she noticed Derek wasn't following her.

"Derek?" she asked in confusion.

"You can go to bed, if you want. I'll show myself out. I just wanna watch him sleep for a while."

"Okay," Addison nodded and went down the hall to her room.

Derek ended up falling asleep on the full sized bed curled up next to his son. He woke up the next morning completely confused by his surroundings. He made his way out of bed and tip toed downstairs, hoping not to wake Addison only to find her already awake and making coffee in the kitchen.

"I fell asleep in his room," he admitted quietly as he came near the kitchen.

"I know. I saw when I went to check on him this morning," Addison sighed.

"I didn't mean to. I meant to leave. I know you wouldn't want me staying here."

She didn't. She wanted her space and her privacy. She wanted to keep her new home free of any memories with him or of him.

"You should stay for breakfast. Christopher would love that," Addison replied "Then I have to head into work for a few hours. You two can go out and do something."

"You want me to stay for breakfast?"

Addison looked at him, "Christopher would want you to stay," she replied, choosing her words carefully.

"And you'd be okay with it?"

Addison looked at him over the rim of her mug. "He's our son, Derek. No matter what happens between us, he's always going to be our son and we need to learn to co-parent. Now is as good a time as any to start, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Derek nodded, "It is."

* * *

A few hours later, Addison was sitting her office with a cup of coffee and a stack of charts in front of her. Her office door opened and Naomi and Voilet came in together. Naomi was holding a bottle of wine while Violet was holding a box of chocolates.

"You know this is a medical practice, right?" Addison told them as they got comfortable on her couch.

"It's Saturday. No one is seeing patients and paperwork can wait," Naomi replied. "Come, sit, drink."

"Cooper tells us your ex-husband showed up at your house while we were out last night." Voilet added. "And Sam says he was still there this morning."

"He's not my ex-husband. We were never married," Addison reminded them. "And he was still at my house this morning. He fell asleep while watching Christopher sleep. He misses him. They've got a very, very tight knit relationship and I don't want to do anything to get in the way of that. I even asked him to stay for breakfast so he could have time with Christopher. He was very excited to see his Dad around so I think it went well."

"I've been told that 'not ex-husband' of yours is very good looking," Voilet admitted. "I am eager to meet him."

"I'm not introducing him to anyone," Addison replied.

"If you scroll down far enough on Addison's Facebook, you'll find lots of pictures. She and Derek used to be active with sharing pictures back when Christopher was little. They have friends and family all over and everyone would gush over their little family." Naomi told Voilet.

"Oh, I forgot about those," Addison frowned. "God, I don't even remember my password to go delete all of that cheesiness."

"So why'd you break up if he made you so happy?" Voilet asked, refusing to allow Addison to change the subject.

"We uh, we grew apart after Christopher was born. We started working different schedules, we stopped making time for one. We grew apart," She explained simply.

"And then Addison slept with his best friend and Derek slept with a 12 year old intern so that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Naomi added, reaching for a chocolate out of the Godiva box and biting it in half. "And before you ask, Vi, yes, the best friend is very, very hot and no, she's not literally 12." She swallowed the bite of her truffle and brought the wine glass to her lips for a sip.

Addison glared at her best friend, "Thanks for the recap, Nai."

"You're welcome," Naomi replied with a smirk.

There was a few seconds of silence before Violet spoke up. "Is the hot best friend still single?

* * *

So this update took longer than I thought it would. I'm so so so sorry. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Let me know what you think.

P.S- Reviews are great encouragement to write faster. *insert winky emoji here*


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Remember this story? Because it's been over two months since the last update so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't lol.

* * *

"I don't understand," the little boy repeated for the third time.

"Honey," Addison sighed, trying to be patient. "What part don't you understand?"

"I don't understand why he has to go back," Christopher replied firmly, looking his mother right in the eyes.

"And I explained that he has to go back because he lives in Seattle."

"So? We used to live in Seattle and now we live here."

"Yes, honey, but Daddy doesn't want to move here."

"Why not?!" he exclaimed in frustration. "It's not fair! We went to Seattle for him! Why can't he come here for us?"

"That's not quite how it works. This is all very grown up, you won't understand."

"You always say that!" he raised his voice in frustation.

"Christopher Shepherd, don't you dare raise your voice!" Addison replied firmly, glaring at her son in the exact way her mother had with her. She froze for a second, almost like it was an out of body experience. She wasn't one to play bad cop too often, she hated reprimanding her son. Was she becoming her mother?

He quickly looked away and looked down at the ground. "Dad's Day is coming up."

"Father's Day is in June and you can spend that with your dad. We've still got time to plan that."

"Not Father's Day! Dad's Day. When Dad's come to school with us and we spend all day doing stuff with them."

"Oh," Addison frowned, suddenly regretting yelling at her son.

"I need Daddy here to come with me. I don't want to be the only kid without my dad."

"I'm sure you won't be the only kid without a dad. Lots of people don't have their dads around all the time. Hey, I can take the day off work and come with you."

"You're not a dad!" her son gave her a glare that made her feel like she was looking right at her mother's signature glare.

"No, but I'm still your parent and when your dad isn't around I have to do both."

"You're not my dad when Dad's not here!" Christopher exclaimed, getting angrier. "I hate this!" he grumbled before running up the stairs to his room.

 _Well, this went well,_ she thought to herself.

* * *

An hour later Derek arrived at the house, leaving his suitcase by the door. "Hey," he greeted his ex-common-law-wife who was sitting on her couch with a glass of wine filled to the brim.

"Hi," she mumbled. "Christopher is up in his room sulking. He doesn't want you to go."

"And you're drinking at 11 am because of that?"

"I'm sorry, I thought not being married to you meant you have no right to pass judgement or have input on my choices. What does it matter to you when I choose to drink?"

"Addison," Derek sighed, sitting on the couch adjacent to her. "Why are you going out of your way to make this harder?"

"What?"

"Why are you trying so hard to push me away?" he asked seriously.

"Because you're not my husband!"

"I know that! But I was your husband for 12 years."

"Actually, you weren't," Addison pointed out before taking a long sip of her wine.

"Fine, then I was your significant other for over 15 years."

"But you're not anymore."

"That doesn't mean I stopped caring, Addison."

"Actually, the whole problem start because you stopped caring," she retorted naturally. She believed it to be completely true. If he hadn't started picking work over their family, maybe everything wouldn't have spiraled out of control. Maybe they'd still be in New York, raising their son together and blissfully unaware of the fradulant marriage license.

"I didn't stop caring," he disputed.

"It sure felt that way."

"Maybe if you weren't so eager to spread your legs for the first man that came by…"

"I didn't spread my legs for the first man that came by," she said with a glare. "I don't know if you've ever paid attention, Derek, but I've a very attractive woman. I've got long legs, and a toned body, I've got a symmetrical face, blue-green eyes, and long, thick hair. I walk around in perfectly tailored outfits to flaunt every asset. I can't go outside without being noticed. So if you think Mark was the first man to try in the 15 years we were together, you're wrong."

Derek rolled his eyes, "You forgot to mention how humble you are," he mumbled.

"I don't need to be humble. I spend 15 years being humble and my assumptive husband forgot my existence. I'm a catch, Derek. And I know. And I know you know it. So we'd both be lying to ourselves if I let you assume Mark was the first man that tried. He wasn't. But by the time Mark came around, I was lonely enough to stop thinking and just... let someone make me feel my worth again."

"Addison," Derek sighed, "I didn't stop caring," he repeated.

"Whatever, Derek, I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I do," He insisted.

"That didn't mean anything the first time you said it," Addison pointed out, thinking back to their failed attempt to elope in the shack-like chapel in Las Vegas.

"Addison," he started again. "I didn't stop caring. I won't stop caring just because we're not really married. You're still the mother of my child. You were my best friend for most of my adult life. Almost all of my adult life. That doesn't go away because of the divorce."

"There was no divorce. We were never legally married," she reminded him again.

Derek sighed, she was making it so difficult for him. He knew she had her walls up, that she was trying to protect herself, but he used to be the person who protected her and now she felt the need to protect herself from him. "That doesn't change what we had, Addison."

"It changes everything, Derek," she replied before getting up from the couch and walking out onto her beach front patio to get away from him.

 _I almost forgot how impossible you can be._ He thought to himself as he watched her walk away.

He waited a few minutes before he went upstairs and found his son sitting on his bed with his ipad in hand. "Hey, kid," he greeted. "Your mom says you're upset."

"I don't want you to go."

"I'll come back," Derek promised. "In a few weeks. I promise. And you'll come visit me too."

"I don't want you to go," Christopher repeated.

"I know. I don't want to go either."

"Then why are you?"

"Because I have work."

"You can have work here. There are hospitals here," he informed his father.

"But I work at a hospital in Seattle"

"You can move, like Mommy did when we came to Seattle and then when we came here."

"I can't do that, Buddy, I've got a contract."

"Mommy had one of those when we moved. She paid to break it or tear it or whatever. She says if you pay enough, there is nothing you can't do."

"She is her mother's daughter," Derek replied quietly.

"You can pay and then you can go to any hospital," Christopher told her. "Then you can stay and come to Dad's Day with me on Thursday."

"I can't pay and break my contract, Christopher. It's complicated but I can't do that," he explained vaguely.

"I don't want to be the only kid without a Dad on Dad's Day. Mom can't come! She's not my dad!"

"No, she's definitely not your dad," Derek chuckled. "When did you say Dad's Day is?"

"Thursday."

"This Thursday?" Derek asked, cringing inwardly. He had a full schedule on Thursday. He had a very important surgery that very morning, a prominent politician in desperate need of a lifesaving tumor resection before the media could get hold of the story. Derek was a natural choice for the job and the procedure was schedule for Thursday Morning.

"This Thursday."

"And what do you do for Dad's Day?"

Christopher shrugged, "Stuff with our dads?" he replied unsurely.

Derek took a deep breath. He didn't want to let his son down and choose work over him. He also knew he could let down a sitting sentator. He took a second to mentally rearrange his schedule. It would be difficult and exhausting, but he could preform the surgery overnight, he could claim that would be the best way to avoid uneeded attention. "Tell you what, buddy, I'll be back on Thursday morning for Dad's Day. I won't miss it. Your dad will be here to go with you."

A tiny smile formed on his son's lips, "Really?"

"Really. We promised you that the distance won't change anything and we meant it. I'll be here." Derek promised. "But you have do something for me too, okay?"

"Like what?"

"You've got a go a little easier on your mom, okay? She's doing her best and sometimes she gets tired and overwhelmed."

"What's overwhelmed?"

"Like when we go to Grandma's house for Christmas morning and all the kids are yelling to open their present first and no one can hear anyone and people unwrap the wrong boxes and get annoyed. You known that frustrating feeling when it's too much going on and you can't stop it? That's being overwhelmed."

"Oh," Christopher mumbled.

"And your mom is overwhelmed and sometimes she doesn't know how to make sense of everything so you gotta take it easy on her."

"I'll try," Christopher mumbled.

* * *

"Were you able to talk him down?" Addison asked, still sipping on her glass of wine.

"Yeah, a little. He's got a Dad's day thing at school and he wants me here for it so I promised him I'll be here."

"That's it? That's all it took?"

"Yeah, so I'll be back in a few days, assuming that's okay with you."

Addison sighed. Instead of answering his question, she said, "When I first got here, I told myself I'd get settled in and then I'd find a sperm donor and give IVF a try."

He looked at her quietly.

"Two was always my plan. Preferably a boy and then a girl. And guess I didn't want to let that go just because nothing else in my life went according to plan. But I can't even keep up with one kid, how am I supposed to keep up with two?"

Derek didn't reply. He just quietly stood there staring down.

"I guess some dreams you just have to let go, right?" she asked when he didn't speak.

"No, I think you're a great mom. If I didn't, I wouldn't let you have primary physical custody of my only kid."

Addison sighed, knowing he was just being nice to her. "All it took for you was a talk. I haven't been able to keep up with him since we moved out here."

"I'm serious, Addison, you're a great mom. Whether or not your life turned out how it was supposed to, whether or not you have another child, you're a great mother."

"Thanks, Derek."

He gave her a small smile. "You're welcome. I should get going. I have a flight to catch."

* * *

Fingers crossed the next update doesn't take so long. You know what's a great reminder to update a story? Reviews. Lots of them. #fact


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I never thought I'd be one of those authors that would go months without updating a story. I'm sorry! But you know what they say, better late than never. *insert shrugging emoji here*

* * *

"Daddy said he would be here," Christopher whined as Addison drove him to school. "Today's Dad's day. I'm not going to school without him."

"Christopher, I told you he'll be there later. His plane lands in an hour and he's going to come straight to your classroom, okay?"

"What if he doesn't?"

"He will. He called me this morning to tell me he's on his way to the airport."

"You're lying," Christopher accused.

Addison stopped at the red light and turn to look at her son in the backseat. "Christopher," she sighed. "I don't know how else to assure you, sweetheart. I spoke to him this morning, he was on his way to the airport."

"He'll be here in an hour?"

"No, he lands in an hour. Dad's day starts at 12:00 and he will be here by then, I promise. He lands at 9 and it takes some time to get here from LAX. You remember how bad traffic gets?"

"No."

"You don't?" she asked. "You had to pee but we were sitting on the 405 and the cars weren't moving so you.."

"So Coop told me to go in a bottle," he recalled with a grimace.

"Right. And you cried until we managed to pull over for you to go on the shoulder of the freeway."

"Mhmm." Christopher mumbled.

"So sometimes traffic is bad so just give him some time. He'll be here," she assured as she pulled up into the drop off lane. She parked her car and got out to open his door and help him out of the car. She knelt down in front of her son, expertly balancing herself in heels and a perfectly fitted dress. Needless to say, she stuck out like a sore thumb compared to all of the other mothers. "He'll be here, okay? I promise." She leaned closer and kissed his forehead, "Have a good day, sweetheart." she added before standing to her full height and watching him head through the gates before getting in the car and heading off to work.

* * *

Derek was standing out in front of the main entrance of the hospital, waiting for his cab to pull up. He had been up all night in the operating room. He'd finished the procedure before dawn, and monitored his patient's progress for two hours then passed it off to another attending to monitor so he could catch his flight.

The yellow cab pulled up and Derek reached for the door when an intern came running out of the hospital lobby. "Dr. Shepherd!" he called loudly, stopping Derek from sliding into the cab.

"You'll have to page someone else, I have a flight to catch. My son is waiting for me."

"You patient just spiked a fever and seized, Dr. Peters is at a loss. We need you to come back."

"Dr. Peters is at a loss?" Derek asked blankly. Dr. Peters had been in practice over a decade longer than Derek had and never let him forget it.

"We need you to come back," the intern repeated.

Derek turned back to the cab driver and asked for him to find a spot in closest lot and park. He offered to pay for the wait and the parking and promised to be back soon. He ran off, following the intern back to their patient. As he ordered a new slew of tests, all he could think about was the fear of missing his flight.

"I have a flight in an hour and a half. I won't make it. I need you to get me on the next flight and I don't care how much it costs," he told the intern who was hovering around him. He wasn't one to use interns for personal errands, but desperate times come desperate measures.

* * *

Christopher kept his eyes on the clock for the entire morning. His eyes lit up every time the door opened but his heart sank every time it was someone else's father. By noon, everyone's had their dads with them and Christopher was sitting alone, no Dad by his side.

Tears welled in his eyes as he sat by himself and watched all of the other children spending time with their dads. Though he didn't spend much time with his mom's parents, everytime he did see them he was reminded that no matter what his last name was, he was a Forbes-Montgomery and that meant he was expected to be on his absolute behavior at all times. No crying in public.

"Chris?" his teacher asked. "Would you like to work with me while we wait on your dad?"

Chris shook his head. "I'll work alone," he mumbled sadly. He didn't want to be the kid stuck with the teacher while everyone else had their dads.

Another hour went by and Chris had spent that time working on a craft project by himself while the rest of his class was occupied with their dads. He looked up at the clock on the wall- he wasn't great with telling time yet but he knew that when the little hand is on the two it means he only has one hour left to go. He got up and walked over to his teacher. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

His teacher looked at him with a brow raised, "I don't know, Christopher, can you?" she asked.

Christopher sighed, annoyed. "May I go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, you may," she replied with a smile.

Christopher stepped out of the classroom and went straight toward the office. He walked up to a woman sitting at a desk and said, "I need to call my mom."

The woman looked at him in surprise, "Does your teacher know you're here?"

"Yes," he lied.

"We only let children place calls to their parents when there is an emergency."

"This is an emergency," Christopher informed her calmly. "My dad was supposed to be here and he's not. He promised. My mom promised. They never lie. I think something happened to him. I need to call my mom."

"I'm sure your dad's fine," the woman replied without much effort to console him.

Christopher involuntarity got teary eyed. "No, my dad wouldn't lie and not come. He wouldn't," he insisted with tears rolling down his cheeks.

The receptionist finally gave in and let him dial his mother's number. The phone rang three times with no answer and he panicked, thinking she might be too busy to answer and was about to let out a sob when he heard her voice.

"Mommy?" he said through his tears.

"Honey, are you okay? What's wrong? Why are you calling in the middle of a school day?"

"Daddy's not here and you promised her would! You said he was on his way and he's not here," he rambled.

"Christopher..." She said softly, unsure of what else she could say. She was well used to being stood up by Derek, and she knew the feeling of heartbreak never really got better. "I'm sorry, honey. If you want, I can cancel my day and come to be with you."

"No! It's Dad's Day, not Mom's Day!" he exclaimed. Just then the door opened and a dark haired man walked in with a leather jacket. Christopher ignored him at first then did a sudden double take, "DADDY!" he yelled excitedly, forgetting he had his mom on the line and shoving the phone back toward the woman at the desk."You're late."

"I know. I'm sorry, but I'm here now. I'm all yours."

"You're not leaving?"

"Not today."

"Tomorrow?"

"Let's not think about that now, okay?" Derek replied as he gave his son another kiss. "Let's go see what this Dad's day thing is all about," he suggested as he set his son back on the ground. "Lead the way," he said.

Christopher took his hand and pulled his father toward his classroom.

"No, wait! You have to sign in," the woman called after them as Christopher pull him toward the classrooms.

Derek briefly paused his son to sigh in and get a vistor sticker then came back and held out his hand. "Okay, now you can lead the way," he said with a chuckle and he stuck the sticker on his shirt.

He continued to pull his arm in the classroom and then stopped and looked up. "That's my teacher, Ms. Harris. And that's Alex, he's my best friend. And that's Becca," he paused and motioned for Derek to lean over so he could whisper in his ear. "I think she's pretty."

"You do?" Derek asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, Remember when I was little and you would always tell Mommy that's she's the most beautiful girl you've ever seen?"

 _"No, don't take off your shoes," Derek told his five year old son who was sitting at the bottom of the staircase waiting impatiently. "Your mom will be home soon and she loves that little outfit on you."_

 _Christopher groaned, completely annoyed. "I'm hungry!"_

 _A few seconds later the front door opened and Addison stepped in. She stopped when she saw her son and husband waiting in the foyer._

 _"What are you two doing here?" she asked as she kicked off her heels. "Why are you all dressed up?"_

 _"We have a surprise for you," Derek replied._

 _"How come she can take off her shoes and I can't?!" the little boy complained._

 _"We have a surprise for you," Derek repeated._

 _Addison gave him a curious look._

 _"We have reservations at your favorite restaurant," Derek told her. "The one with the name I can't pronounce and the menu that you have translate for me because it's in French."_

 _"La Grenouille."_

 _"Yes, exactly. So put your shoes back on and let's go."_

 _"Derek, that's very sweet but I've been on my feet for 14 hours. I smell like hospital and OR. I have dark circles under my eyes. I Certainly don't look up to La Grenouille standards right now."_

 _"All of that is untrue, you look beautiful."_

 _"My hair has been under a surgical cap for most of the day so I basically have helmet hair right now," she added._

 _"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. It doesn't matter if you spend two hours on your hair and make, or if you've spent hours elbow deep inside a body cavity, or if you just roll out of bed, you are always the most beautiful person in the room, okay?" he said, stepping closer to fill the gap between them._

 _She glance up to meet his eyes in silence and a small smile appeared on her face._

 _"Christopher agrees. Right, Christopher?"_

 _"What?" he asked, having zoned out._

 _Derek turned to see his son had taken off his shoes and put them back on on the opposite feet. He sighed, "He agrees," he said on behalf of their son. "He's just too hungry to remember."_

 _Christopher stood, still wearing his shoes on the opposite feet. "Can we eat now?"_

Derek froze for a second. He'd put all of those member behind him. "Yeah, I do remember," he said somberly.

"I think Becca is too," he admitted sheepishly. "Don't tell anyone, okay? It's a secret."

* * *

"He was a nervous wreck this morning," Addison told Derek after they had put their son to bed. "I'm glad made it, albeit late but still, you made it and it made him very happy."

Derek nodded as he took a sip from his wine glass. "I really miss him. I spent the day with him and I realized how much I miss in his day to day life."

"Yeah, he's got this whole life going on now. He's got opinions and questions and ideas and he's always learning something new. He's growing a little too fast for my liking."

Derek nodded, "Today I learned our son has a crush."

"He does?"

"Yeah, Becca. He thinks she's the most beautiful girl ever."

Addison chuckled, "That's kind of cute."

"He said he wants to tell her he think she's beautiful because I used to tell you."

Addison didn't respond. She just reached for the wine glass and poured herself another glass.

"I used to tell you all the time. Every chance I got," Derek went on.

"I remember," she mumbled as she took a sip from her glass.

"When did I stop?" He wondered out loud.

"It doesn't matter when you stopped. _Why_ did you stop?" she asked, emphasizing the first word of her question. "What changed?"

"I don't know."

"You have to know," she insisted. "Was it me? You stopped finding me beautiful? Your type changed? Did I bore you?"

"I don't know," he repeated.

She got up from the couch and went over to put her glass in the sink.

"I still think you're attractive." he admitted.

"That's not what you used to say. You used to say I'm the most beautiful woman you've ever seen. Attractive is physical, beauty is more than that," she said as she was halfway up the stairs. "It doesn't even matter anymore, Derek."

"It does, he watched me. He paid attention to how I was with you. And he's approaching people the same way. I don't want him to treat anyone the way I treated you that last year in New York. And I certainly wouldn't want him to treat anyone the way I treated you in Seattle. I'm sorry I did that."

Addison sighed, "It's in the past now so it doesn't matter. Now we just have to focus on our son and co-parent as best we can so he can have a normal life." She got up from the table and went to put her wine glass in the sink. Then she moved toward the staircase, ready to call it a night when Derek cut her off just as she opened her mouth.

"Addison," he started, causing her to stop halfway up the stairs and turn to face him. "I still think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met and I'm sorry I stopped saying it."

She climbed two more stairs without saying anything then stopped again. "It's too late," she said softly, reaching up to wipe the tear rolling down her cheek as she went up the rest of the stairs.

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Please review because reviews are awesome and I love hearing your thoughts. :)


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